Natural Tips for Coping with 1st Trimester Nausea

As a midwife who has cared for hundreds and hundreds of pregnant people, as well as someone who has been pregnant myself, I understand how intense the first trimester can be. Some people feel totally fine during the first trimester. They may feel a little extra tired, or more out of it, but not everybody experiences major changes during the first trimester.

However, many folks feel profoundly exhausted and nauseous during this time when their hormones are changing and they are growing an entire human from scratch. Experiencing morning sickness or generalized nausea during the first trimester is extremely common, and here are 4 midwife-approved tools that can help keep nausea under control. 

(#1) Eat Regularly

 The first tip, and I think the most important, is to eating regularly. Many of us experience more nausea when our blood sugar is out of whack— that’s one of the reasons that they call it “morning sickness”- because our blood sugar is usually low after not eating all night (which is why nausea is usually worse in the morning).

The way to combat these blood sugar highs and lows is to eat something with protein regularly— every two to three hours, ideally. When I was pregnant, I ate a lot of eggs, carrots and hummus, cheese and crackers, toast with peanut butter, beans, or a handful of walnuts…basically anything that has a little protein is good. Another idea is to put chia seeds in water with a little lemon and honey and sip it throughout the day. Often, eating a high-protein midnight snack is helpful as well.

There are some people who can’t keep much of anything down during their first trimester, and just get by on crackers and juice. If that’s you, don’t worry— the baby is drawing from nutrient stores in your body and is getting the nutrients they need to grow. Just try your best, and constantly snack so that your blood sugar doesn’t get too low. Broth can be helpful because it’s full of protein and nutrients.

(#2) Acupuncture

Another tip for managing nausea in pregnancy is getting acupuncture. I find acupuncture to be super supportive during pregnancy because the Chinese medicine approach deeply understands how to treat the body as whole and is especially supportive to hormonal regulation.

There are practitioners who focus on working with pregnant people, as well as community acupuncture locations around the country, which are a great, low-cost option for folks trying to fit acupuncture into their budgets.

(#3) Seabands

 Seabands are bracelets that have a little ball that applies pressure to an acupressure point on the wrist that helps manage nausea. These don't work for everybody, but they do work really well for some folks, and it's a low-cost and low intervention thing to try if you are experiencing morning sickness or early pregnancy nausea.

 (#4) Peppermint essential oils

Another trick for managing nausea is smelling peppermint essential oils. They’ve done studies that show that using peppermint essential oils decreases people’s rates of nausea and vomiting. 

Some folks will put little bits of the oil on their wrist or behind their ears, and others will take a bottle of essential oil around with them and sniff it every so often. People drink peppermint tea as well.

I hope these four suggestions support you to thrive, or at least feel a little bit better, during the first trimester of pregnancy. If you try all of these with little success, you can speak to your provider about medication options that can also support you during this time.